Fresh & Easy adds natural gas vehicles to its fleet

By Marianne Wilson

El Segundo, Calif. -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has added 25 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles to its distribution fleet as part of a partnership with Ryder System. The new vehicles produce 20% to 30% less emissions than comparable diesel vehicles and are part of the company’s ongoing efforts to reduce emissions.

“By incorporating natural gas vehicles into our fleet, we are helping to reduce emissions even further,” said Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. “When we can also reduce our operating costs through more efficient transportation technologies like natural gas and pass those savings on to our customers.”

Fresh & Easy already has introduced trailers that include a hybrid refrigeration vector unit which minimizes the amount of fuel used to safely cool and transport store products. The trailers also include an automatic refrigeration shut-off when optimum temperature is reached inside the cooling chamber, as well as a complete engine shut-off once parked at the stores.

In addition, at the distribution center, Fresh & Easy has utilized plug-in electrical stand-by technology so no fuel is used to run refrigeration units on parked trailers.

The CNG vehicles were made available through a $38.7 million Ryder/ San Bernardino Associated Governments (SANBAG) project that is part of a joint public/private partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy, the California Energy Commission, the Southern California Association of Governments Clean Cities Coalition, and Ryder.